Comparison

BackPlaner vs Sourdough Bread Timer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

BackPlaner

This app helps bakers manage their recipes and baking schedules. It calculates ingredient quantities based on the number of items and provides timely reminders for each step. Users can also adjust timings and print recipes.

Highlights
  • Save unlimited recipes
  • Automatic ingredient scaling
  • Chronological work step reminders
  • Adjustable step timings
  • Printable recipes and ingredients
  • Dropbox backup and sync
Features
Read full description

Whether you're baking just a single sourdough loaf or several bakes on the same day โ€“ a flatbread for the evening, maybe a pizza too โ€“ every bake has its own sequence of preferment, resting times, kneading, proofing and baking. Keeping track of what's due when in your head goes wrong fast, especially when hours pass between individual steps. Backplaner solves exactly that. You set which bake(s) you want to make and when they should be finished โ€“ the app calculates backwards and shows you every step in a single, chronologically sorted overview. If you're baking several things at once, color bars show at a glance which step belongs to which bake. Shift one step, and every later time for that bake shifts along with it automatically. For sourdough recipes with long rest times, Backplaner also shows the ideal baking time window: the period in which none of the steps fall into the night, so you don't have to get up in the middle of the night to fold the dough or put it in the oven. You set your own night hours in Settings. What Backplaner can do: โ€ข Handle the timing for a single bake just as well as for several at once, with a chronological overview โ€ข Create recipes with any number of steps and ingredients โ€ข Automatically scale ingredient amounts to the number of pieces you want โ€ข Calculate hydration (TA) โ€“ for anyone working with sourdough โ€ข Show the ideal baking time window, the one in which no step falls into the night โ€ข Preheating wherever you need it: mark the step the oven has to be ready for and get reminded in good time โ€“ the app remembers the preheat duration and suggests it again for your next recipe โ€ข Local reminders for every step, even when the phone is locked โ€ข Add photos to every recipe โ€ข Export the session as a PDF โ€“ overview and ingredient list, ready to print โ€ข If you like, Backplaner clears the finished session by itself, one hour after the last step โ€ข Share recipes by email โ€“ the recipient just taps the attachment, done โ€ข Complete backup of all recipes, photos and sessions All data stays on your device. Backplaner doesn't send anything to its own servers, there's no tracking and no ads. Backplaner is available in German, English, French and Spanish. BACKPLANER PRO Backplaner is free. Without a subscription you can create one pastry of your own; the yearly subscription "Backplaner Pro" removes that limit. The subscription runs for one year and renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before it expires. You can manage or cancel it at any time in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://ihanwel.net/datenschutz.html

About

Sourdough Bread Timer

Features
Read full description

Sourdough doesn't wait for you. Levain runs your whole bake from one timeline โ€” every stage, every fold, every proof โ€” and its alarms ring through silent mode so you never sleep through a shape again. Most timers count down once. A real loaf needs eight stages across eighteen hours, half of them overnight. Levain was built for that. ONE TIMER, EVERY STAGE Chain autolyse, mix, bulk ferment, folds, shape, cold retard and bake into a single schedule. Every step shows the clock time it will actually happen, before you start โ€” so you know tonight whether you are pulling bread out at 7am or at noon. Long bakes get Next Day markers where the timeline crosses midnight. ALARMS THAT ACTUALLY WAKE YOU Stage alerts ring through silent mode and Focus, the way a Clock alarm does. Loud alarms are per stage: quiet for the overnight retard, loud for the oven. LIVE ON YOUR LOCK SCREEN The countdown lives in the Dynamic Island and on your Lock Screen. Glance at the stage name, the step number and the time left without opening the app. DOUGH THAT RUNS LATE When a stage ends the clock keeps counting up instead of resetting. Dough is ready when it is ready โ€” Levain waits, and tells you how far over you are. BUILD YOUR OWN BREAD Drag stages into a timeline, scrub durations on a rotary dial, and drop ingredients, temperatures and humidity targets onto any step. Baker's percentage is calculated as you go, with levain counted as half flour and half water. A JOURNAL OF EVERY LOAF Log a bake and it becomes a photo on your calendar. The background is lifted off your loaf on device, so the bread sits as a sticker on the day you baked it. Notes, a gallery, the ingredients and the timeline it really ran on are kept as a snapshot โ€” editing the recipe later never rewrites history. Starts with Classic Sourdough and Sourdough Focaccia. No account, and nothing leaves your phone. FREE AND PRO Free includes 3 recipes with the full multi-stage timer, loud alarms and Live Activity. Levain Pro unlocks unlimited recipes and the full photo bake journal, with a 7-day free trial. Available monthly, yearly, or as a one-time purchase. Monthly and yearly plans renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Settings. Terms of Use: https://liuys614.github.io/levain/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://liuys614.github.io/levain/privacy.html

Screenshots

BackPlaner4 screens
Sourdough Bread Timer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Sourdough Bread Timer at every 8 days against BackPlaner's every 17 months. BackPlaner's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. BackPlaner sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per year and Sourdough Bread Timer sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BackPlaner ships an update every 17 months, Sourdough Bread Timer every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 6 level
BackPlaner versus Sourdough Bread Timer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBackPlanerSourdough Bread Timer
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews60.0% of reviewsโ€”
Update frequencyEvery 17 monthsEvery 8 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesโ€”
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” betteriPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better26.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size62 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerihanwel.comYI SHIH LIU

In-app purchases

2 purchases

BackPlaner

Subscriptions1
  • Backplaner Pro$3.991 Year
One-time1
  • Vollversion$4.99
3 purchases

Sourdough Bread Timer

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Monthly: Unlimited Journal$3.991 Month
  • Pro Yearly: Unlimited Recipes7 Days trial$15.991 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Lifetime: Unlimited Bakes$29.99

Questions

Is BackPlaner free?
BackPlaner is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sourdough Bread Timer free?
Sourdough Bread Timer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do BackPlaner or Sourdough Bread Timer have ads?
Neither BackPlaner nor Sourdough Bread Timer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BackPlaner or Sourdough Bread Timer?
BackPlaner ships an update every 17 months, and Sourdough Bread Timer every 8 days. Most recently, BackPlaner was updated on November 1, 2026 and Sourdough Bread Timer on November 6, 2026.

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